Weekly Update 21-28.07.2014
1) LIBYA
» 22-28.07.2014: Foreigners Evacuate as Airport Tank Fires Threaten Southern Tripoli
The standoff between the Libya Shield forces (Misrata) and the Zintan Qaaqaa and Sawaiq militia intensified towards the end of last week, with over 50 killed by the weekend. U.S, Dutch, French, and German embassies have urged their nationals to leave Libya, while the U.S embassy evacuated its personnel. Meanwhile, a missile had hit an oil tank near the airport leading to a blaze that spread to a second tank on Sunday. The government had urged residents within 5 km radius of the tanker compound to evacuate the area, and had called for international assistance to help extinguish the fires. An environmental disaster is feared should the fire spread to the remaining 10 tanks on the road to the airport. With such a dangerous situation in Tripoli and a similar picture in Benghazi the transfer of power from the GNC to the newly elected parliament, due on 4 August in Benghazi, will most likely not take place. Benghazi’s airport is itself closed and the town is the theatre of another fierce standoff, despite reports that the pro-Hafter Saiqa special forces have lost most of their operational bases there.
2) TUNISIA
» 22-28.07.2014: Mixed Reactions to the Government’s Anti-Terrorism Measures
The draconian anti-terrorism decisions enforced by the Tunisian government last week, following the killing of 14 soldiers on the Chaambi Mount, have fuelled an already polarised public opinion and civil society. Ennahdha issued a communique in Arabic, on 23 July, in which it re-affirmed its support for combatting terrorism “within a national unity framework”. In addition, it called for re-opening the mosques that were closed down and speeding up the process of placing them under state control. Ennahdha’s communique in English, however, did not mention the closure of mosques and Islamist-related associations but rather reiterated Ennahdha’s support for combatting terrorism. On the other hand, the Tunisian Observatory for the Independence of the Judiciary took a nuanced position. It expressed its concern with regard to the interference of the executive with the powers of the judiciary and breaches to individual liberties.
http://www.ennahdha.tn/
http://www.ennahdha.tn/ennahdha-statement-comprehensively-combating-terrorism-priority-state-its-military-and-security
http://nawaat.org/portail/2014/07/21/communique-otim-21-juillet-2014/
https://www.facebook.com/front.national.des.associations.islamiques/photos/
3) MAURITANIA
» 27-28.07.2014: Obama’s Y ALI: Promoting Young Leaders or Propping up Separatists?
A lengthy article in Taqadoumy.com, the mouthpiece of the Union for the Forces of Progress (leftist party) criticised President Mohamed Abdelaziz’s foreign policy choices and performance. The author of the article decried Abdelaziz’s non-reaction to the U.S embassy in Nouakchott’s meeting last week with Biram Ould Dah Abeid, leader of the anti-slavery IRA movement; as well as to the embassy’s meeting with the leadership of the African Liberation Forces of Mauritania (FLAM). The author saw in Washington’s invitation to Biram Abeid to attend the Young African Leadership (YALI) conference in Washington last weekend and the U.S-Africa Leadership Summit, this week, as incitement for separatism and ethnic division in Mauritania.
http://taqadoumy.com/
http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/texttrans/2014/07/20140728304555.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/us-africa-leaders-summit
4) MALI
» 24.07.2014: Algerian Co-Mediation Yields a Roadmap for the Resolution of the Malian Crisis
Algiers declared Thursday that its co-mediation of the talks between the Malian government and six rebel Azawad movements (MNLA, MAA, HCUA, CPA, CMFPR, and MAA-Dissident) had yielded the signature of two documents that would pave the way for a cessation of hostilities and a roadmap for peaceful negotiations. The two parties agreed to resume dialogue next week, and in September, with the aim of a final agreement in October. This diplomatic result faces now the test of the ground as some military leaders of the MAA in Kidal had already rejected the Algiers Agreement of 16 June, which paved the way for this round of talks.
The views and perspectives contained in the Weekly Update are from individual contributors and external sources, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or position of the Cordoba Foundation of Geneva. The links are neither intended as an endorsement of particular publications nor the only source for the updates, but to connect to information in the public domain, for those interested in background or further details.
